Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program

The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) applied in Southern Oregon, specifically within the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, stands as a pioneering example of environmental stewardship and community engagement in the United States.

Implemented across the priority landscapes of Southern Oregon, this program epitomizes the U.S. Forest Service’s commitment to sustainable forest management, ecological restoration, and fostering partnerships with local communities.

Spanning over 1.8 million acres, the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest showcases the unique ecological richness of the region, encompassing dense forests, wild rivers, and rugged mountain terrain. However, these landscapes have faced their share of challenges, from wildfire threats and habitat degradation to invasive species encroachments.

Enter the CFLRP, a groundbreaking initiative that unites federal agencies, local governments, tribal nations, conservation organizations, and community stakeholders to collaboratively address these challenges. Through a science-based approach, the program seeks to restore forest health, enhance wildlife habitat, mitigate the risks of catastrophic wildfires, and sustainably manage these cherished public lands.

National effort, local benefits.

The Rogue Basin’s CFLRP focuses on the south-central part of the RRSNF, a focal landscape of 300,000 acres of National Forest system lands, which are most relevant to reducing wildfire risks to nearby communities.

Treatments under the RBCFLRP, consistent with the collaboratively developed Rogue Basin Strategy (RBS), will reduce hazardous fuels through non-commercial and commercial thinning of small-diameter trees and prescribed fire use to modify subsequent wildfire behavior. Fully implemented, the RBS treatments are projected to reduce uncharacteristically severe wildfire effects and reduce the overall wildfire risk by an estimated 70%.

“With this funding, the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, in collaboration with partners, will be able to complete restoration and fuels reduction projects at the landscape scale in both the Applegate and the Illinois Valley first and then around communities in the Butte Falls/Prospect, as well as in Brookings/Agness and the Elk River watershed in the future.”  – Terry Fairbanks, Executive Director of the Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative.

Anticipated restoration and fuels reduction treatments on adjacent Bureau of Land Management-Medford District and private lands, along with additional funding support from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Oregon Watershed Enhance Board, and the Oregon Department of Forestry will create an all-lands strategy for risk reduction to local communities.